Curtis leads in Texas

Ben Curtis will take a two shot lead into the third round of the Texas Open after shooting a second successive 67 on Friday.

After a bogey free round on Thursday, the 2003 Open champion started on the back nine, birdieing four of his first seven holes to go out in 32 before picking-up his final shot at the par-three third, to become just the fourth player this year to avoid making a bogey in the opening 36 holes of a tournament.

Having not won for six years, Curtis was understandably pleased to be back in contention and said he would not be changing his game plan going into the weekend.

"I'm playing really well," Curtis told pgatour.com. "I'm doing everything solid. I was just trying to keep it simple.

"I hit a lot of close shots and made it pretty easy on myself," he added.

David Mathis is Curtis' closest rival, sitting two shots behind him on eight-under after also shooting a 67 while overnight leader Matt Every failed to capitalise on his course record 63 on Thursday, dropping two shots back to seven-under before being called back into the clubhouse with two holes to play due to bad light.